


Grounded

by Welsper



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Canon, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-17 07:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20617472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welsper/pseuds/Welsper
Summary: The Bahamut has fallen and Balthier with her. Vaan won't leave him behind.





	Grounded

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cricket_aria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cricket_aria/gifts).

“Balthier!”

There was a terror in Ashe’s voice and Vaan felt it in his heart too. They all watched as the Bahamut crashed just outside Rabanastre, the shockwaves knocking about dust and splintering windows. If it had fallen on Rabanastre… The Judge had been right, the Paling would not have held and the city and everyone in it would have been wiped out. But Balthier and Fran had made sure that wouldn’t happen. And now they… Vaan gripped the steering wheels tighter, until his knuckles were white and Penelo put a hand on his shoulder.  
“They’ll be alright, Vaan!”

There was still so much more to learn! He wanted to learn how to fly the Strahl properly! Soar through the skies like a real pirate, free of all the machinations and the politics and the war. Free, Ashe had said, and that was all Vaan wanted. But not without him!

They waited, far away from the last blasts of the battle until everyone had received the orders of the ceasefire. There were no words as the corpse of the Judge burned, smoke rising in the sky from the pyre the same as the shell of the Bahamut near them. Yet there the Magister stood beside them still, and the armor fit Basch perfectly and seemed to constrict him all the same. They were free now, only Basch wasn’t, still haunted by the shadow of the brother that had taken Vaan’s. But he had fought alongside Larsa and though Vaan didn’t understand much of politics, he knew that his friend would do better. Be better. If anyone could fix this mess, it was him and Basch would help him.

When the airspace cleared, Vaan flew the Strahl back into Rabanastre, hiding her in a hangar. Ashe and Larsa and Basch returned to their duties and people, escorted back to what were probably long, long talks and meetings and Penelo and Vaan were left behind. That adventure was over for them, wasn’t it? They were friends, but those three lived in another world.

“We can’t just leave them there,” Vaan said and he didn’t need to say anything for Penelo to understand him.

“He said he’d get back,” Penelo said, but there was a soft smile on her face and she nodded at him. “But maybe he could use some help!”

They flew back as soon as they were able. The space around Rabanastre was still crawling with airships, on the ground and in the air, but no one paid them much attention. Everyone was too busy tending to their own and the fallout of a leadership change on both sides.

The Bahamut was a ruined mess, but even in death she was an imposing view. When Vaan stood under her, her shadow blotted out the sun and he could scarce see in front of his eyes. They dodged falling debris and smaller fires that still burned as they made his way through. If Balthier and Fran had been fixing the Glossair Rings, then they must be…

His hands were bleeding and blistering from shoving aside scrap and debris, jagged edges and glowing metal. He saw something moving beneath a pile of rubble and scrambled over. He dug and dug and when he saw a bloodied hand emerge from the pile, grabbed it and pulled the owner out.

“Balthier!”

“What are you doing here? Didn’t I… didn’t I tell you to take care of my ship,” Balthier coughed, and his voice was so quiet, and pained. He looked horrible and when he saw Penelo help Fran the same way, she wasn’t off much better. One of her ears was folded in half and her leg bent the wrong way. Balthier’s left sleeve had been torn off, and along with it the skin on it. The man was as pale as a ghost.

“Yeah, and if her owner doesn’t come back, that’d make her sad. So this is me taking care of her,” Vaan said and cast Curaga onto Balthier, whose breathing steadied slightly. It wouldn’t do much, and magic wouldn’t cure those wounds, but it would ease the pain. Penelo added hers and her White Magic had always been more powerful, but there was only so much to be done. They had to get them out of here.

“Thank you. For saving Rabanastre,” Vaan said.

“Just doing my part as the leading man,” Balthier quipped.

“I’m serious! You could have died.”

“Better us than half the city. That moron Judge’s plan would have never worked.” Balthier sat up with a hiss and Vaan was by his side, gently sliding a hand on his back. Vaan helped him up and Balthier hung half on his shoulder, a stumbling mess of a man. He remembered that night he had first met Balthier and how the man had thrown him over his shoulder with such an ease. Now, it was his turn to support Balthier.

“Got quite good at flying her, eh?” Balthier shouted from the camp bed and erupted into a coughing fit when they had left the Bahamut behind.

“Quiet,” Fran told him.

“Yeah, you need to rest!”

“Oh yes, just going to twiddle my thumbs in a powderkeg city still crawling with Imperials.”

“You can come quietly or I can cast sleep on you!” Vaan warned him and Balthier laughed again. “And it won’t explode. Nothing will explode. Ashe will make sure of that.”

“Ah, the noble princess. You put quite the trust into one woman.”

“Isn’t she the queen now?”

“They have to crown her first!” Penelo said.

“And yeah, of course I do! And you should too. So just… rest for a while, okay?”

Vaan had to cast sleep on him, after all. The man had been screaming in pain after they moved him from the Strahl to the rooms they had rented. He had coughed up blood and something must have ruptured and the trashing only made it worse. For so long he had fought at Balthier’s side, supported him in battle and been supported in turn, but Vaan had never seen it so bad. It was if the two of them had taken the pain meant for all of Rabanastre and suffered it alone.

“Still here?” Balthier asked him one day when he woke up. He was sleeping so much these days and Vaan thought that must be good – he was healing. But he also feared he wouldn’t wake up from his slumbers one day. Fran’s injuries healed easier, owing her sturdy nature as a Viera – triple the lifespan, triple the vitality, probably.

“You should be flying,” he added with a cough. Vaan handed him a cup of water, but Balthier’s hands were too shaky to hold it. There was a look of distaste on the man’s face, but he let Vaan hold the cup to his lips anyway. His lips were so chapped, so pale, but Vaan still stared at them fascinated.

“I’m not going anywhere without you,” Vaan decided and Balthier, for once in his life, didn’t seem to have anything to say to that.

“So stop trying to get up when we aren’t looking. Stop picking at your bandages. You wouldn’t make the Strahl fly with a fried engine, would you? Rest!”

“Ah, here I was… hoping to see you fly, but for me to clip your wings like that… guess I am getting old.”

“Shut up. You’re just sick. It happens to everyone,” Vaan said but there was a grin on his face and Balthier grinned back.

“Suppose there are worse things than a pretty young lad playing nurse for me,” Balthier said with a smirk and Vaan’s breath stuttered.

“What?!” And Balthier laughed at him and if he hadn’t been so hurt, maybe Vaan would have hurled a fist at him.

“I could get used to this,” Balthier said and Vaan felt his heart beat faster at that look the man gave him. Even pale as he was, and half his body a ruined, broken mess, Balthier was still so damn beautiful.

“Well, keep that up and I’ll really leave you here!”

“You’d never. You love me too much,” Balthier laughed and Vaan threw a pillow at this face.

“Ass.”

“You like it.”

Balthier was the most insufferable patient Vaan had ever seen. He couldn’t leave his bandages on and tried to get up even when his legs wouldn’t hold him. He’s snap at them if he wasn’t throwing witty one liners. It must be eating at him, to be so sick.

“I didn’t teach you how to fly her just so you could look after an old man down here,” Balthier told him one night.

“You’re twenty-two! You've got more drama in you than a parade chocobo,” Vaan said as he rolled his eyes.

“Is she just collecting dust now?”

“Nah, Fran and Penelo are keeping her in shape.”

“You should be with them.”

“I told you, I’m not going without you.”

Vaan crossed his arms as he met Balthier’s puzzled stare. Did he think he had been lying? Joking after all? Honestly. And there Vaan thought he had made his feelings clear.

“Why?”

Vaan leaned forward, one hand on the wall next to Balthier’s head and kissed him.

“Because I want to be the greatest sky pirate ever. But I want you to be there with me.”

Balthier blinked at him and then slowly, laughter rose in him.

“I suppose the story of the leading man could use a little romance.”


End file.
